Rare Kawasaki disease in Mumbai, doctors see 12 cases in 6 months

At least 12 cases of Kawasaki syndrome, a rare disease in young children that inflames the body's blood vessels, have been reported from city hospitals in the last six months.Sumitra Debroy | TNN | May 17, 2016, 19:07 IST

(Photo Courtesy: Getty Images)At least 12 cases of Kawasaki syndrome, a rare disease in young children that inflames the body's blood vessels, have been reported from city hospitals in the last six months.

Doctors however are alarmed by a few cases where children affected by the seemingly non-contagious disease were living in the same locality. Of these, while two live in Powai, the other two were from a particular area in south Mumbai.

The Powai children, aged 4 and 5, presented to doctors at LH Hiranandani Hospital with symptoms of high fever, throat redness and lymph node swelling. Also, the boys came to the hospital weeks apart from each other. The disease that usually occurs in children between ages of one and five can lead to serious cardiac complications, including heart attack.

"One of the children came to us with symptoms that could mimic any common viral infection. We treated him with normal medicines. But, he returned within 48 hours with eye congestion and rash. We carried out a 2D echo test and a blood count and decided to start treating him for Kawasaki," said Dr Bijal Srivastava, paediatrician at Hiranandani Hospital. While this was her first Kawasaki diagnosis, a registry of the disease in Mumbai has about 160 confirmed cases. She added that the hospital did not see any connection between the cases and believe their proximity could be a coincidence.

The other two south Mumbai cases were seen about five weeks ago. Dr Raju Khubchandani, director of paediatrics at Jaslok Hospital in Peddar road, said, "We did treat two cases from the same area but there is nothing to suggest any connection as yet," he said.He has treated over 150 Kawasaki cases in the last 10-12 years.

The recent uncommon occurrence, he said, was a case where the condition has recurred in a child. "Recurrence is very rare as the disease is known to afflict just once in a lifetime," he said. "The cause is often a mix of genetic, environmental and immunological reasons," he said, adding that the treatment cost remains a big challenge. It could range from a few thousands to a lakh The syndrome was first described by Tomisaku Kawasaki in Japan in 1967.